Trevor Hohns reveals why Tim Paine was named captain of Australian team
Chief selector of Cricket Australia, Trevor Hohns has finally opened up on why the team management assigned the captaincy of the Australian team to wicket-keeper Tim Paine.
It has been almost a year and a half since Paine took over the reins of the team following the infamous 'Sandpaper Gate' involving then captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.
Hohns stated that the decision to name Paine as the new captain was made within five minutes.
"Within about five minutes we had made up our mind, and what led us to Tim was simply, we thought he was the right type of person - he was touted as a leader previously. We went through the other candidates that could possibly do it and immediately we just came up with Tim."
Hohns went on to describe the situation in the dressing room when Paine was made the new captain, saying:
“We went back to the dressing room, and it was announced that the boys David Warner and Smith would be standing down, and all I said was, ‘Tim, sorry mate, no notice, but you are the captain.”
Tim Paine's record as captain
Tim Paine's stint kicked off in the worst possible manner as England whitewashed Australia in the limited-overs series back in June 2018. Australia then went on to lose to Pakistan in a T20I tri-series also featuring Zimbabwe.
They failed to win a single game against the men in green in the U.A.E. while India and South Africa handed them heavy defeats at home as well. During this period, the board assigned the captaincy of the limited-overs teams to Aaron Finch.
However, 2019 has been a good year for Paine. Under his leadership, Australia whitewashed Sri Lanka in a 2-match Test series and even managed to retain the Ashes by drawing the series against England.
It will be interesting to see how the team fares when they square off in a Test series against Pakistan later this year.
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